The day started with some perfect whale watching conditions: a small seabreeze, a few clouds and some sunshine. We spotted our first humpback whale just after Hjalteyri. Most likely a juvenile since it was a rather small whale. We soon spotted another humpback whale close by, larger this time. This second whale started tail slapping while rolled on its back... spectacular! We topped off the tour with a very close encounter with this same whale. It sent us on our way with a lovely dive showing the fluke. The afternoon tour had slightly colder conditions because the wind had picked up. The first encounter was made of a pod of northern bottlenose whales. This pod has been in and out of the fjord for the last couple of weeks, and always creates a fair bit of a commotion when spotted! The last pod of whales of that species to visit the fjord was six years ago! After that we headed further north where we were pretty much surrounded by whales. Between six and seven humpback whales were around the ship, within a 2 km radius. We also spotted a minke whale with some unusual moves on the way back which was a great way to finish the tour. Once again, the whales of Eyjafjordur put on a good show for us!

Text and photos by Liza Roger